and many more benefits!

Find us on Facebook

GMAT Club Timer Informer

Hi GMATClubber!

Thank you for using the timer!
We noticed you are actually not timing your practice. Click the START button first next time you use the timer.
There are many benefits to timing your practice, including:

I've failed over and over and over again in my life and that is why I succeed--Michael JordanKudos drives a person to better himself every single time. So Pls give it generouslyWont give up till i hit a 700+

Last edited by rajathpanta on 06 Apr 2013, 20:52, edited 1 time in total.

The argument is concerned about the vendor and bases his conclusion on the premise that he currently sells 15 pretzels and will not be able to sell 25 outside the museum to cover the license cost. So, the correct answer choice is likely to be the one that compares the current situation (sale outside the city hall) with the new situation (sale outside the museum).

(E) states that fewer people are likely to buy pretzel outside a museum than outside a city hall. This will support the conclusion of the vendor that he will not able to recover the license if he is selling fewer than 25 ( <15 according to E).

The vendor argues that the license fee would be prohibitively expensive due to his prediction that lower than 25 pretzels/hr will be sold in front of the art museum, which is the number required to break even. The introduction of the city hall sales figures functions as a way to cement the point regarding expected sales in front of the art museum, by providing alternate evidence that boosts the likelihood of the vendor's prediction (although as the paragraph is written, this is the potentially flawed part of the argument, the fact that there's a connection between sales at each location). E fills in the gap and states that art museum pretzel-hungry passerby < city hall pretzel-hungry passerby, therefore we can add it to the argument and infer that art museum sales < city hall sales (15/hr), which translate to the art museum sales being < 25 pretzels/hr needed to break even.

The only second thought I had when reading this was the fact that E only refers to # of people buying pretzels, and doesn't correlate that to # of pretzels sold. What if people passing by the art museum on average purchase more pretzels than city hall? That would mean there could be less people approaching the pretzel cart, but they may be buying a higher quantity. That might be overthinking the problem, though..

First of all, this is the assumption question, which is one of the most difficult questions in CR. if you realize the question type, it will help you shorten the processing time. In this kind of question, conclusion is the most important.

Premise: must sell an average 25 pretzels /hour to break evenPremise: I only sells an average 15 pretzels /hour at my stand outside the city hall.Conclusion: I couldn't break even running a pretzel stand outside the art museum.

Assumption: the vendor means his stand outside city hall always has more customer than stands outside the art museum. if he cannot sell a average 25 pretzels/hour at his stand, he couldn't do so at the stand outside the art museum.

If you're not sure, try the NEGATION technique. Not fewer people passing the art museum than passing the city hall likely to buy pretzels. It means the vendor can sell more pretzels if his stand is outside the art museum. The vendor's conclusion fails.

That's why E.

Hope it's clear.

___________________________Please kudo if you like my post! _________________

Please +1 KUDO if my post helps. Thank you.

"Designing cars consumes you; it has a hold on your spirit which is incredibly powerful. It's not something you can do part time, you have do it with all your heart and soul or you're going to get it wrong."

The argument is concerned about the vendor and bases his conclusion on the premise that he currently sells 15 pretzels and will not be able to sell 25 outside the museum to cover the license cost. So, the correct answer choice is likely to be the one that compares the current situation (sale outside the city hall) with the new situation (sale outside the museum).

(E) states that fewer people are likely to buy pretzel outside a museum than outside a city hall. This will support the conclusion of the vendor that he will not able to recover the license if he is selling fewer than 25 ( <15 according to E).

If you have any specific question then let me know.

Hope this helps,

Vercules

Hai Vercules,

I have a doubt.. Pl clarify.

Option E says ''fewer people are likely to buy pretzel outside a museum than outside a city hall''.

Now my question is, What if the number of stands outside the city hall is more than that outside the art museum..

As per the option E, let me consider 150 people buy outside city hall and 100 people buy outside art museum.. But if there are only two stands outside the museum and 10 stalls near city hall, is it not possible that the number of customers near art museum averages to 25??

Thanks to another GMAT Club member, I have just discovered this valuable topic, yet it had no discussion for over a year. I am now bumping it up - doing my job. I think you may find it valuable (esp those replies with Kudos).

Want to see all other topics I dig out? Follow me (click follow button on profile). You will receive a summary of all topics I bump in your profile area as well as via email.

I understand that E strengthens the argument most here. Yet, dont A,B & C also strengthen it in some way and make it more believable that art museums would be less profitable?

I understand that the question says, 'find the option that MOST strenghthens'. Yet, I read somewhere that, that's a wording that GMAC uses to avoid any confusions at a later stage so that nobody can question there final answer and that GMAC only gives ONE correct option for the question asked. For eg. in a strengthener, the GMAC would only give 1 strengthener and the other options would not strengthen it.

So my question is this:

1) In a strengthen question, should there be only 1 strengthener? Or can other there be other strengthener options as well and are we looking for the best of all the strengtheners present in some questions?

For eg. In A : 'There is currently no license fee for operating a pretzel stand outside city hall.'

I understand that what is currently outside city hall has no bearing on whether the stand outside the museum would make losses or not because of the license fees. However, let's take this scenario: The stand outside city hall has no license fee. This means that there is a chance that the profits outside the hall will be more compared to the stands outside the museum where there is a new license fee, since the stands outside the hall have no license cost in their cost price while those outside the museums do. Now, I'm not saying that this scenario has a big of chance of happening. Yet, doesnt this possibility make the conclusion more believable? If it does, then isnt it making the conclusion more believable? Isnt that the exact definition of a strengthener?

Pretzel vendor: The new license fee for operating a pretzel stand outside the art museum is prohibitively expensive. Charging typical prices, a vendor would need to sell an average of 25 pretzels per hour to break even. At my stand outside city hall, I average only 15 per hour. Therefore, I could not break even running a pretzel stand outside the art museum, much less turn a profit.

Which of the following, if true, most strongly supports the pretzel vendor’s argument?

(A) There is currently no license fee for operating a pretzel stand outside city hall. -> whats happening in city hall is not of any concern here.(B) Pretzel vendors who operate stands outside the art museum were making a profit before the imposition of the new license fee. -> what was happening before is of no relevance now.(C) The number of pretzel stands outside the art museum is no greater than the number of pretzel stands now outside city hall. -> number of stands may be same or less but there might be enough demand in the museums.(D) People who buy pretzels at pretzel stands are most likely to do so during the hours at which the art museum is open to the public. -> we still need to have idea about the rest of the hours which can have a significant result on the end sale result.(E) Fewer people passing the art museum than passing city hall are likely to buy pretzels.-> if few ppl are likely to buy compared to those who would